The present invention generally relates to vehicle restraint systems, and more particularly relates to crashworthy restraint systems for use by mobile crew members in air, ground, and water borne vehicles.
Crew members in vehicle crew compartments often require mobility to perform mission duties, while still being provided with adequate protection in the event of a severe maneuver, crash, or other impact event. For example, large special operations or combat search and rescue helicopters are required to perform a variety of missions. The mission duties of the helicopter crew members (e.g. gunners, flight engineers, load masters) can require that the crew members be seated, standing, kneeling, or moving about. Crew cabin seating systems can afford a substantial degree of protection, however such seating systems cannot easily be moved or removed during flight. In addition, the seating systems naturally limit the crewmembers' range of motion, which hinders the ability to perform necessary duties, for example during troop transport, or cargo loading and unloading. Consequently many crew stations currently do not have any type of seating system, which results in limited or no impact protection.
In many vehicle compartments, simple tethers connecting the crew member to discrete attachment points in the crew compartment are often used for mobile crew protection. Crew restraint tethers are typically adjustable, and preferably kept short enough to prevent the crew member from falling out of the vehicle. However mobility is limited by the length of the tether, often preventing access by the crew member to areas of the vehicle compartment necessary for performance of mission duties. In such situations the tether must be detached from the vehicle attachment point and re-attached at a different location that affords the crew member access to the particular location, leaving the crew member unprotected while the tether is being moved. Thus a crew member is at a substantially increased risk of injury when moving a tether attachment from one location to another. Also, while a tether may be effective at preventing crew from falling out of the compartment, it does little or nothing to prevent impact with the inside of the compartment. Such lack of protection can result in severe injuries to the spine, torso, and head from impact with the vehicle structure.
An alternative to a simple tether is a device known as a Mobile Aircrew Restraint System, or “MARS”. One such device sold by Conax Florida Corporation for use in helicopter crew compartments comprises a retractor reel holding a Kevlar® strap that can be clipped to a safety belt worn by a crew member. The device may be pivotally mounted to the ceiling of the compartment, allowing the crew member to move about in the compartment in any direction. The retractor reel is an inertia device that allows the strap to freely pay out under normal conditions, but locks when the strap accelerates rapidly to prevent crew from being ejected. Although such a system improves mobility over a simple tether, it likewise suffers from an inability to adequately protect against crew member impact with the vehicle structure.
What is needed is a an innovative mobile crew crashworthy restraint system that allows crewmembers the freedom to perform the majority of their tasks, while preventing injury due to impact with the vehicle compartment. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.